Panzer_M wrote:post a review when you view it.
OK I'll take a stab at it. The disks arrived a couple days ago and I've watched about a half dozen episodes. The disks themselves are burned Memorex DVD-R in a 50 disk "spool" with the season and episode number inscribed on each disk, 39 disks in all for a total of 78 episodes, and included an info sheet & episode guide, plus a CD-ROM "extras" disk, both of which I found useful. Each disk has two episodes, with a runtime of approximately 50 mins. each, completely commercial free, and includes a nice episode and scene selection menu. The Video quality, while not up to the standards of a re-mastered studio release like the "Combat!" TV series, is quite good, the source being a cable TV network. The show itself, in my opinion, is a classic of the genre, and second only to the "Combat!" series in both quality of the acting/production and the number of seasons/episodes. The series was produced by Quinn Martin, one of the most prolific and successful TV producers ever, who in addition to "12 O'clock High" produced such notable TV series as "The Fugitive" and "The F.B.I.". Like the "Combat!" series, 12 O'clock high features many big name actors in guest star roles, with names such as Peter Fonda, Burt Reynolds, William Shatner (that's right, Captain Kirk...LOL), and Jack Lord, just to name a few. One thing the series portrays very well in my opinion is the raw youth of the real bomber crews, many of which were really just boys in their late teens and early 20's, and is a real tribute to the young men who daily faced the prospect of a violent death over the skies of Nazi occupied Europe, and did so with courage and professionalism. The set is not cheap by any means, and it ran me about $160 including delivery, but at $2 an episode it's worth every penny to me for the many hours of entertainment and enjoyment I'll get out of it. Hope you enjoyed the review.
Gen. George S. Patton Jr., 28th Regimental Colonel, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, U.S. Army, "Blood and Steel"
Sadly , the series only ran for 3 seasons due to growing anti-war sentiment as the nation entered the Vietnam war, but nevertheless, along with the Combat! series it ranks as one of the best "war" based TV series of the B&W era ever produced IMO. The set wasn't cheap, but the video quality is said to be excellent, and it should be a lot of fun watching those old episodes. There are a number of episodes posted on Youtube, but the picture quality is pretty horrible, but still they give you an idea of what the series is like.
